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Friday, March 30, 2012

While it was a super busy week here on the blog and in the shop, my Instagram feed was pretty light this week! But, in the name of full disclosure, I'll share what I've got with ya!

A stack of oh so pretty pot holders ready for a BIG wholesale order that delivers next week. I cannot WAIT TO TELL YOU about the news!!!

New ruffled tea towels are now available in the shop! They come in a variety of colors just in time for spring, and what's better? They match the aprons in my shop for a great gift set!

Part of having a handmade business is marketing and branding. While browsing the shelves at Target (ok, so maybe while BUYING from the shelves at target) inspiration struck for a new tagging option for some of my products. Luckily, my fabulous friend (and model of all aprons!!!) Carter of Away We Go Studios, happens to also be Love Elaine's graphic designer. So, be on the look out for some pretties soon! (**Side note: if you do have a handmade business, contact Carter. She is amazing at what she does, and her logos are fabulous!)

And finally, please forgive the HORRIBLE photo of me, but I said I was keeping it real. Here I am with the BF on vacation last week. We were in the Mountains. It was quiet, and sunny, and warm, and it was just WONDERFUL. He gets huge amounts of bonus points for planning the whole thing! I think I'll keep him for a while ;)

So, I totally forgot to announce that I'll be a vendor at the upcoming Spring Badda Bing craft show here in Richmond on April 15th! Mark your calendars and come visit me - I'm going to have a new booth (there is a lime green rug involved) and lots of new bags that are not in the shop yet! I hope to see all of my local friends there!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

With vacation last week, I wasn't able to share with you some exciting news - I was nominated for the Leibster Blog Award! From what I gather, its a way for other bloggers to pass along other blogs to their readers and recognize their peers. So much fun, right?!

I was nominated by Kelly at Sew Alluring who found me through my apron tutorial at Sew Mama Sew. Finding new blogs is one of my favorite things about blogging - and of course, sharing them with you! I'm so excited that Kelly thought enough of this little blog to nominate me for the award, which came with the following instructions:

Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog. Check!

Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you. Check!

Copy/paste the blog award on your blog. Check!

Present the Liebster Blog Award to five blogs (with 200 followers or less). See the list below - I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment. Check!

Here are my nominations:

Purple Panda Quilts - Lyanna is a personal friend (who recently helped me with 2 marathon days of sewing!) and I just love her quilts! We have a similar love for Kate Spain fabrics and all things modern. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about Lyanna as we're planning a trip to Sewing Summit in October!

LO Maintenance Living - Lauren is a fellow Hokie and ZTA Sorority sister. Her blog has lots of great recipes and craft ideas! Cute alert - don't say I didn't warn you that her 2 year old Rylan is seriously ADORABLE!

Jersey Girl Designs - Lauren (according to facebook, I know 12 Laurens!) is another Hokie and ZTA Sorority sister, who knew we were all so talented? We've all come a long way since puffy painting glasses for our littles! For anyone who love sparkly things, be sure to check out her Etsy shop! I just love her stud earrings!

Sew Happy Geek - I just love Jenna's quilts and fabric choices! She has a lot of great sewing tutorials too.

Little Miss Sew It All - Sarah Beth has a lot of super cute projects, you just have to check out her templates for decorating onsies at a recent baby shower she helped throw! Very adorable and super easy!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Don't you just LOVE spring? For me, its the promise of warm weather ahead (and not the awful allergies and pollen) that I like to think about. But mostly, Spring is all about flowers, and COLOR! If you love color and flowers like I do, with a twist of vintage/modern style - then you'll love Love Elaine's new Spring Aprons!

I am very excited to introduce our newest design, the full and half tiered aprons! Modern with a vintage twist, it utilizes more fabrics, which for me, always equals more fun!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hi all - I'm back! Back from vacation (more on that later) and back to blogging - I seriously cannot believe March 6 (20 days ago!) was my last post.

Why such a hiatus? Well, I've been busy sewing. And emailing. And calling Mom with excitement (!!!) and LOTS of panic. Two and half years ago I started Love Elaine as a way to feed my addiction for fabric, and make a little bit of money doing it. And now, the business is taking off in ways that I could have never dreamed in my wildest dreams! Since I like to wait on announcing news until its "official official" as in, signed, sealed and delivered, you'll have to stay tuned for announcements on some of my biggest news. (Sorry to tease, I just like to have all the facts when putting it out there for the world to see!)

In the meantime, I can share a lot of finished projects to keep you all at bay. In no particular order:

Here is my entry into the Moda Sliced Design Competition back at the end of February (I told you I was behind!) The details were at Moda Bake Shop and you can see all the entries in their Flickr Group. I wasn't selected for the final 4 or honorable mentions, but I had SO MUCH FUN coming up with an idea and executing it.

Next up are two Amy Butler Birdie Sling tote bags I made for a friend and her cousin about to embark on a Cruise! This bag is so versatile - it can be a beach/pool bag, or a tote when heading to the farmers market for the day. And, its so fun and stylish! I love how it looks so different depending on the fabric used! I can't decide which is my favorite - I love them both for different reasons!

I finished up another set of letters - these are for an adorable 4 year old as he moved into a "big boy" room to make room for a new baby brother or sister on the way!

There is a serious baby epidemic (and I'm not complaining) going on this spring! And I just love it! Great story about this bag is that a friend of a friend purchased a bag for another friend (confusing I know) 2 years ago at one of my first trunk shows. Fast forward, and when that friend was expecting baby #2, friend who received the bag contacted me to make a purple baby bag as a gift! I just LOVE when things like that happen! And, I'm in love with the Love Elaine baby bag - this purple is so sophisticated - its sure to be a cute bag for mom when the little ones get bigger! And, I'm super bummed because I made another bag this weekend for a shower, and in my true last minute fashion, I finished it two hours before the shower and didn't get a picture. But, its in SUPER CUTE pink and green. Stay tuned for listings in the shop of these great bags!

Part of my super exciting news is that I started working with a local professional organizing company here in Richmond on some product development for a conference. Their conference was last week, and let's just say our products were a HUGE hit. Below is a sneak peek of the custom Utility Apron sample, which, I'm keeping for me, as its in my signature plum and grey!! I'll be posting more photos of the products and the company in the coming weeks!

Speaking of the shop - I've updated the shop with new Spring Aprons! Have you seen them yet?! A hint - there is grey and yellow, as well as teal and orange. And there might be birds involved! I hope you'll head on over and check them out! I'll have more on those tomorrow - yes, tomorrow! I promise ;)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Most of you know the story of Love Elaine, and for those of you who don't, I'll give a quick overview. Elaine is my middle name, as well as all of the women in my family - Mom, both Grandmothers and my sister. And, Love is my paternal Grandmother's maiden name. I really wanted the name to reflect family, as I've been blessed with very strong (my Dad would say "Strong, Stubborn German Women") in my life, and they've been a huge support behind getting Love Elaine off the ground.

So, keeping that in mind, I wanted to do something special for the upcoming Mother's day for my Grandma (my Mom's Mom), as I am a compulsive special gift-giver. And, if it can be handmade by me or someone else, it ranks high on my gifting list!

Each Mother's Day I host a brunch and gather all the women in the family. Men are welcome but they usually steer clear, as its lots of laughing, awes and just plain girlishness going on! A while back my Grandma mentioned wanting a Yo Yo Quilt, and I come across a Yo Yo Along at Sew Take a Hike and got an idea.

To make a Yo Yo quilt, you need approximately 1,008 Yo Yos for a 63x81 quilt. Which sounds totally overwhelming to just one person, but between me, my Mom, Aunts and Cousins, there are 10 of us girls. Problem solved and idea hatched!

Yo Yo Making Kits for Christmas

For Christmas when I knew I would see everyone, I made up "Kits" with a Yo Yo maker, needle, and thread along with fabric from my scrap bin - so there would be no excuses for non-completetion! Notice the "big" packs in the back? Those are for me, my mom and my Aunts - since we have more sewing "experience" we figured we'd do more than the rest,150, with the less experienced making 50 each by the deadline of April 1 to give my Mom and I a month to put the quilt together. Luckily for me, everyone thought it was a great idea!

Large Yo Yo Maker - Makes making Yo Yos a breeze!

I have about 50 Yo Yos completed, and they went together super fast using the Yo Yo maker. But, one thing I realized is that I bought the "large" Yo Yo maker, and you really needed the extra large/Jumbo to make the size quilt in the Yo Yo Along. So, the quilt will end up being a bit smaller. I can't wait to see everyone's progress and I'll be sure to update here once we get all of them together, and start putting it together.

Have you pulled together family or friends to make a special gift or project? I'd love to hear about it!

Friday, March 2, 2012

This post is wayyyyy overdue, and as you can see, its been a couple of weeks since I linked up to Insta Friday. But, as I always say, its better late than never, right?

Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Houston Fort Worth, Texas for ODI, a leadership conference for the Association of Junior Leagues International. The cross out is an inside joke, as the ENTIRE TIME leading up to the conference, I was convinced we were going to Houston. I asked friends I knew in Houston for restaurant recommendations, I looked up to see how far Dallas was from Houston as I wanted to make a trip to City Craft - you get the idea. So, I ignored ALL of the signs (that my hotel was in Forth Worth and that my flight was to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport) and not until we were in the cab to our hotel did I ask "so, how far to Houston?" did it dawn on me.

So, on Saturday night of the conference, in Fort Worth, we headed down to the Stock Yards and came across a wonderful boutique with amazing handmade wares, as well as a BAR smack in the middle of the shop. Talk about multi-tasking at its finest - happy hour and shopping, I was sold! Here's a bit of eye candy and inspiration I soaked up while I was there.

Don't you just want a pair of each in those gorgeous COLORS? Yes please!

Reclaimed wood frames and wall art with metal flowers. Swoon!

If my suitcase wasn't so small, the guy on the top would have come home with me!

Hand Embroidered Texas pillows - yes EMBROIDERED! Just LOVE!

Yes, that is me sitting at the bar on a saddle. I don't look out of place at all in my knee length red coat, do I?!

I had an amazing time with an amazing group of women! Hopefully, next time, I'll be coming home with a pair of boots :)

And, since we've had such a mild winter here in Virginia compared to last year, and I LOVE SNOW, I just had to share a couple photos I got on the one any only snow I saw this year from our new house. So pretty!!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I'm am SUPER excited to announce the NEW Mommy & Me Apron sets new to the shop! I debuted the girls aprons this past Christmas season at craft shows and trunk shows, and they were such a hot item, I decided I just had to offer them in the shop!

And finally, the moment you've all be waiting for - the WINNER of the Sew Mama Sew apron! I had over 50 comments - by far the most ever for my little blog! I am so excited by the response and look forward to offering more giveaways and tutorials!

The winner of the Apron is Beach Angel with the comment that she is following me on Pinterest! Please contact me at christen(at)love-elaine.com to claim your prize!

Psst - If you want to win one of these FABULOUS Mommy and Me Apron sets, head on over to my dear friend Linda's blog, Burlap and Blue tomorrow for an exciting announcement!